Elevate Your Day with Andi and Brian Hale

For every good night’s sleep, another tomorrow will come with its own set of challenges. Just like your alarm clock or phone alarm, stress will sound its alarms in your life every day. You can plan ahead, however, and order your life so you are not suffering a constant train wreck of chaos and stress. You can choose to filter stressors so you are not swimming in their aftermath. People who swim in stre...

If there is any space at all under our beds, we usually stuff junk under there, out of sight, out of mind. It may or may not be precious to us. I want to keep the junk under my bed, but my husband wants to throw it away. Did you know that most of us stuff more than actual objects under our “beds,” so to speak? Most of us are trying to sleep on top of our emotional junk, too, but it never works! Let’s l...

Sometimes you can create the perfect refuge in your bedroom, will yourself to bed and master all your monsters, yet you still can’t get to sleep. The reason is that sometimes the chaos that keeps you awake once you crawl into bed continues, either outside your window or inside your head. You see things on the news, or you read things on social media that create a political or cultural theatre far more ...

Remember the Disney Pixar movie Monsters, Inc., which introduced a hidden world of monsters that generated energy by scaring human children, even though the movie was a comedy? Kids were toxic to these monsters’ plans for world bedtime domination.

As adults, we have overcome our fear of monsters in our closets. Or have we? Indeed, entities are hiding just out of sight—not ...

Matthew 6:25-32 ESV “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father fee...

Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. – John 19:39 ESV

Nicodemus didn’t come with a testimony. He didn’t arrive with a miracle story or a bold proclamation.

He just came.

And for a while, it looked like he faded into...

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” – John 3:21 ESV

Nicodemus came to Jesus in the shadows.

But shadows don’t stay shadows when you’ve been with the Light.

We meet him first in John 3—coming quietly, seeking truth under cove...

O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. – Psalm 5:3 ESV

Nicodemus opened his mouth and said one word: “Rabbi.”

It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t a sermon. It wasn’t even a clear confession of faith. But it was something.

That on...

a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. -Isaiah 42:3 ESV

Nicodemus didn’t just come at night—he came with reverence.

He called Jesus, Rabbi. He acknowledged the miracles. He even said, “God must be with You.” His heart was draw...

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said...

God’s not dead and he’s not done! Your life may look or feel like an unfinished painting—a huge mess with pieces missing.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. – Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

God wants you to know that although you may not be able to see it, He is stil...

You may have heard it before: life is hard; God is good. This statement is far more than a cliché: it’s a strong and solid theological truth.

Some incredibly smart people have wrestled with such questions as, “if God is good, then why does this happen? Why is injustice allowed, and why can life be so hard?” Those really smart people concluded that life is hard AND God is g...

For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield. – Psalm 5:12 ESV

Seeking God’s goodness daily helps us to expect good things to show up in our lives. God’s goodness isn’t hiding, and his favor doesn’t make limited appearances . . . we just have to have eyes that seek to find. We’re not always keenly aware of God’s favor, which is why the Apo...

God’s favor flows as naturally into our lives as a father’s favor flows into the lives of his children. (And He is the greatest picture of a father you could ever dream of or imagine.) God loves you. He considers you his kid, and that makes you a generational recipient of his blessing.

and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord ...

Some people assume God is angry most of the time and that his favor only lasts a moment, but the Bible tells us it’s just the opposite! You are always the apple of His eye even when you feel like spoiled fruit.

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for th...

How does the Spirit of God change us? He enrolls us in the University of Godly Thought. Little by little, day by day, year by year, he creates a new person!

We learn to:

• Take thoughts captive
• Test each message against the truth of Scripture
• Interrupt poisonous thought threads before they infect us
• Think and act like Jesus

Read more